All-star flashback

All-Star

I didn’t watch the Major League Baseball All-Star Game last night with as much interest as I did when I was a kid.

First, interleague play has ruined the competitive nature of the annual contest between the All-Stars from the American and National Leagues. When MLB had only 16 teams and no interleague play, the game really meant something to the players and fans. The game still was special after expansion in 1962 without interleague play. For instance, who can forget Pete Rose’s collision with catcher Ray Fosse at the 1970 All-Star Game in Cincinnati when Fosse injured his shoulder on the play. Fosse was never the same after that. (By the way, Rose scored on Chicago Cub reserve Jim Hickman’s single. For more about Hickman, see his bio that I wrote on the Society for American Baseball Research website at sabr.org.)

Second, today’s All-Stars wear the same American League and National League jerseys and pants; they don’t wear their unique team uniforms as they did in the past. I really liked seeing the players in their team’s distinctly different jerseys and pants. I’ve read that a big dollar deal with Nike or some other company is the reason the All-Stars wear the same type of uniform now. Honestly, does everything have to be about money?

Third, it’s harder to know the players due to the major leagues’ expansion to 30 teams. I knew the starting lineup for every National League team and most American League teams when I was a kid because there were only 16 major-league teams. When I looked at the All-Star rosters last night, I wasn’t familiar with 10 of the National League and 11 of the American League players. That’s about one-third of the 66 players chosen for this year’s game!

To refresh my memory about All-Star Games 50 and 60 years ago, I went downstairs and retrieved a couple of All-Star Game programs I collected in the 1960s. The 1969 All-Star Game program is a good example. It just so happens that five Chicago Cubs were named to the National League All-Star Game at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C., that year. Third baseman Ron Santo and shortstop Don Kessinger were among the eight starting position players. The reserves included first baseman Ernie Banks, second baseman Glenn Beckert and catcher Randy Hundley. Sadly, only Kessinger and Hundley are still with us today.

All-Star

The National League’s other starters included catcher Johnny Bench of the Cincinnati Reds, first baseman Willie McCovey of the San Francisco Giants, second baseman Felix Millan of the Atlanta Braves, outfielder Henry Aaron of the Braves, outfielder Matty Alou of the Pittsburgh Pirates and outfielder Cleon Jones of the New York Mets.

It’s hard to believe that Alou and Jones beat out Roberto Clemente of the Pirates and Willie Mays of the Giants that year for starting positions in the outfield. After 18 seasons in the big leagues, Mays had slipped somewhat. In 148 games with the Giants in 1968, he hit “only” .284 with 23 home runs and 79 RBIs. Clemente had played 15 seasons with the Pirates by 1969. In 132 games with the Pirates in 1968, he hit .291 with 18 home runs and 57 RBIs.

The other National League reserves in 1969 were first baseman Lee May of the Reds, third baseman Tony Perez of the Reds, second baseman Denis Menke (from Bancroft, Iowa) of the Houston Astros, outfielder Rusty Staub of the Montreal Expos, catcher Chris Cannizzaro of the San Diego Padres and outfielder Rose.

The pitching staff wasn’t too shabby either. The nine-man staff included Steve Carlton of the St. Louis Cardinals, Larry Dierker of the Astros, Bob Gibson of the Cardinals, Grant Jackson of the Philadelphia Phillies, Jerry Koosman of the Mets, Juan Marichal of the Giants, Phil Niekro of the Braves, Tom Seaver of the Mets and Bill Singer of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Surprisingly, the Cubs’ Ferguson Jenkins wasn’t among the NL’s pitchers.

Red Schoendienst of the Cardinals managed the 1969 NL All-Stars. His coaches were Leo Durocher of the Cubs, Dave Bristol of the Reds and Gil Hodges of the Mets.

By my count, 16 of the National League All-Stars in 1969 eventually were inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. (Aaron, Banks, Bench, Carlton, Clemente, Durocher, Gibson, Hodges, Marichal, Mays, McCovey, Niekro, Perez, Santo, Schoendienst and Seaver.)

The American League starters included catcher Bill Freehan of the Detroit Tigers, first baseman Boog Powell of the Baltimore Orioles, second baseman Rod Carew of the Minnesota Twins, third baseman Sal Bando of the Oakland Athletics, shortstop Rico Petrocelli of the Boston Red Sox, outfielder Reggie Jackson of the Athletics, outfielder Frank Robinson of the Orioles and outfielder Frank Howard of the Washington Senators.

The AL reserves included catcher John Roseboro of the Twins, first baseman Harmon Killebrew of the Twins, catcher Ellie Rodriguez of the Kansas City Royals, second baseman Dave Johnson of the Orioles, third baseman Brooks Robinson of the Orioles, outfielder Paul Blair of the Orioles, shortstop Jim Fregosi of the California Angels, outfielder Tony Oliva of the Twins, outfielder Carl Yastrzemski of the Red Sox, outfielder Reggie Smith of the Red Sox, outfielder Carlos May of the Chicago White Sox and outfielder Mike Hegan of the Seattle Mariners.

The AL pitching staff featured Ray Culp of the Boston Red Sox, Darold Knowles of the Senators, Mickey Lolich of the Tigers, Sam McDowell of the Cleveland Indians, Denny McLain of the Tigers, Dave McNally of the Orioles, John “Blue Moon” Odom of the Athletics and Mel Stottlemyre of the New York Yankees.

Mayo Smith of the Tigers managed the AL All-Stars that year. His coaches were Earl Weaver of the Orioles, Ted Williams of the Senators and Alvin Dark of the Indians.

Nine of the American League All-Stars eventually were inducted into the Hall of Fame. (Carew, Jackson, Killebrew, Oliva, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Weaver, Williams and Yastrzemski.)

The umpires were Bob Stewart, John Flaherty, Marty Springstead, Tony Venzon, Tom Gorman and Augie Donatelli.

To bring the All-Star Game back to the prominence it once had, let’s get rid of interleague play and make the players wear their own teams’ uniforms — not some generic National League and American League uniforms. The former isn’t likely to happen; the latter won’t happen any time soon either. That leaves us with a game that is strictly entertainment for entertainment’s sake. That is a loss for Major League Baseball as well as the viewer.

By the way, the National League All-Stars won, 9-3, in 1969 thanks to McCovey’s two home runs. The winning pitcher was Carlton even though he gave up two hits and two runs in three innings of work. He was followed by Gibson, Singer, Koosman, Dierker and Niekro.

Stottlemyre was tagged with the loss after giving up four hits and three runs in the first two innings. He was followed by Odom, Knowles, McLain, McNally, McDowell and Culp.

The five Cubs who played went 0-for-9 at the plate. I still have the box score from that game.

Top photo: Cover of 1969 All-Star Game souvenir program for game played at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C., on July 22, 1969. The National League won, 9-3. Five Chicago Cubs were named to the NL All-Star squad, including starters Ron Santo and Don Kessinger and reserves Ernie Banks, Glenn Beckert and Randy Hundley. The souvenir program cost only $1.Steve Dunn’s latest book, Pug,’ ‘Fireball,’ and Company: 116 Years of Professional Baseball in Des Moines, Iowa, is available on pugfireballandcompany.com. It is also available at Beaverdale Books in Des Moines, Hidden Treasures Gifts & Book-Tea-Que in Altoona and Dog Eared Books in Ames. The author is starting a new podcast called Pug Fireball and Company that will explore the history of professional baseball in Des Moines and elsewhere.Eventually, it may include other Iowa-related historical topics as well.

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Steve Dunn